Lil’ Kim for Mayor —
Someone circulated a bogus press release claiming that rap star Lil' Kim was running for mayor of Hoboken. Local media in New York duly reported it as fact. But in a world where Ronald Reagan became president and Arnold Schwarzenegger is Governor of California, I can understand why they took it seriously. [NY Daily News]
Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009. Comments (0)

Heart’s Letter to John McCain —
The following cease-and-desist letter, supposedly written by Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart to John McCain, has started doing the rounds. Warning: NSFW language!
Is it real? Well, the Wilsons did email out a statement asking the Republican campaign not to use their music, and in a phone interview, after the Republicans used their music anyway, Nancy Wilson said, "I feel completely f--ed over."
However, the article above seems to be satire. It comes from Seattle's The Stranger…
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2008. Comments (5)

Air guitar owned by JFK —
You have missed your chance to bid on an "Air guitar owned by JFK":
Extremely rare oppurtunity
up for auction is the only air guitar known to have been owned by US president
JFK President kennedy was under constant stress from political rivals and upsets, so its only natural he would have taken up playing air guitar
Many silent and melancholy impromptu jam sessions haunted the air in Kennedy's office as US president
it was discovered recently in a cold storage unit in its case
Posted: Mon May 12, 2008. Comments (8)

Reviewer makes an “educated guess” —
Maxim recently published a review of the Black Crowes' new album, Warpaint. It didn't like it much, giving it only 2.5 stars out of 5.
There was just one problem. The album hadn't been released yet, and advance copies hadn't been made available. So how had the Maxim reviewer heard the album? Turns out he hadn't. Maxim explained to the Black Crowes that the reviewer made an "educated guess." Maxim later released this statement: "It is Maxim's editorial policy to assign star ratings…
Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008. Comments (8)

Is it legal to sell something you find in the trash? —
The Patry Copyright blog has posted details of an interesting copyright case: United States v. Chalupnik. It doesn't, strictly speaking, have anything to do with hoaxes, except that it raises the question of whether there actually was a crime committed, or whether it's an example of a big corporation trying to invent a crime. Here are the facts, as summarized by William Patry:
defendant was an employee for the U.S. Postal Service. BMG Columbia House is a mail order operation selling…
Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2008. Comments (24)

Backwards Singing —
In this video some guy, who calls himself One Man Sho, sings gibberish while performing various actions such as knocking over wooden blocks and drinking a glass of orange soda. Then the video plays in reverse to reveal that he was actually singing the national anthem backwards.
It would be possible to fake this. For instance, you could dub over the voice, though I imagine it would be a technical challenge to match the dubbed voice to the movement of his lips. Or you could sing…
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2008. Comments (13)

Quick Links: Jan. 25, 2008 —Caught Lipsyncing
Amusing video on youtube of a guy caught lipsyncing. I like how he tries to pretend that nothing happened.
Live Frog in Lettuce
Yet another case of a family finding a live frog in their lettuce. The amazing thing is that instead of trying to sue someone, the family has adopted the frog as a pet. They call him "curious."
Fake Leg as Weapon
"Police said Donna Sturkie-Anthony took her elder sister's prosthetic leg and beat her with it."
Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008. Comments (4)

Quick Links: Dec. 4, 2007 —Tickle Me Counterfeit
Authorities are warning consumers to be on the lookout for fake Tickle Me Elmos showing up on store shelves this Christmas. How can you tell the difference between the real and the fake? For a start, the fake Elmo is called "The Laughing Doll." Also, oddly enough, the fakes are more expensive than the real thing.
Phony Doo-Wops
Doo-wop groups from the 1950s and '60s, such as the Drifters, Coasters and Platters, are complaining that they're going broke. They can't…
Posted: Tue Dec 04, 2007. Comments (0)

Did Morrissey predict the death of Princess Diana? —
Here's an unusual theory. David Alice, webmaster of dianamystery.com, argues that the singer Morrissey (formerly of The Smiths) predicted the death of Princess Diana. I would dismiss it all as an elaborate joke, except that the guy seems really serious about it.
The crux of his argument (at least in the video posted below) is that one of the songs on The Smiths' album The Queen is Dead, speaks about two people getting killed together in a car crash. And this song was released as an…
Posted: Thu Oct 11, 2007. Comments (13)

New Yorker on Joyce Hatto —
Mark Singer has written an article for the New Yorker about the Joyce Hatto hoax, that was revealed earlier this year. I was busy finishing Elephants on Acid when it was making headlines, but Flora posted about it.
Hatto was supposedly a virtuoso pianist, whose talent was discovered only very late in her life, when she was already in her seventies. She was notable for being able to masterfully play a wide variety of works, including compositions by Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, and…
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007. Comments (4)

Internet amateur actually had big label deal —
Marie Digby has been one of YouTube's greatest stars. She started posting videos of herself performing covers of popular songs. Just her sitting in front of the camera, singing away and playing the guitar. Soon her videos were getting millions of page views, and her popularity allowed her to get a track on iTunes.
This success endeared her to the internet, who saw her as one of their own. She was a real talent who had succeeded on the strength of her ability alone. She wasn't one of…
Posted: Fri Sep 07, 2007. Comments (5)